Handling Responses in Requests

When you make HTTP requests with the Requests library, the server sends back a response. Understanding how to handle these responses is crucial for effective API interactions.

Accessing Response Content

The content of an HTTP response can be accessed in multiple formats depending on your requirements.

Accessing Text Content

Use the .text attribute to retrieve the response as a string.

import requests
 
response = requests.get("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1")
print("Response Text:", response.text)

Accessing JSON Content

If the server returns JSON data, use the .json() method to parse it into a Python dictionary.

response = requests.get("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1")
print("Response JSON:", response.json())

Accessing Binary Content

Use the .content attribute to retrieve the raw binary content of the response.

response = requests.get("https://via.placeholder.com/150")
with open("image.png", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

Status Codes and Handling Errors

Checking the Status Code

Every HTTP response has a status code that indicates the result of the request.

response = requests.get("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1")
print("Status Code:", response.status_code)

Common Status Codes

Raising Exceptions for Errors

Use the .raise_for_status() method to raise an exception for HTTP errors.

try:
    response = requests.get("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/invalid")
    response.raise_for_status()
except requests.exceptions.HTTPError as e:
    print("HTTP Error:", e)

HTTP Headers in Responses

HTTP headers provide additional information about the response, such as content type, server details, and caching policies.

Accessing Headers

The .headers attribute returns a dictionary of response headers.

response = requests.get("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1")
print("Headers:", response.headers)

Example: Accessing Specific Header

print("Content-Type:", response.headers["Content-Type"])

Try It Yourself

Problem 1: Fetch JSON Data

Retrieve and print the title of the post from https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1.

import requests
 
response = requests.get("https://jsonplaceholder.typicode.com/posts/1")
data = response.json()
print("Title:", data["title"])

Problem 2: Save an Image from a URL

Download an image from https://via.placeholder.com/150 and save it as placeholder.png.

import requests
 
response = requests.get("https://via.placeholder.com/150")
with open("placeholder.png", "wb") as f:
    f.write(response.content)

By understanding how to handle responses, you can effectively manage data returned from APIs, detect errors, and work with server headers. Start practicing these concepts to enhance your skills!